Colombia´s Coffee Cultural Landscape proclaimed a UNESCO World Heritage Site

The Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia (PCC)  is not merely a scenario: it’s an institution that has developed improvements regarding production and coffee producer´s quality of life; a tradition that has managed to make history, always aware of developing a better product day to day,” said Nuria Sanz, Head of the Latin America and Caribbean unit of the UNESCO World Heritage Center.

The PCC was declared a World Heritage Site during the 35th session of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee, held this year in Paris from June 19 to June 29. The PCC´s area is made up of 4 departments divided in 47 municipalities, one of which is APIA RISARALDA, where about 24,000 coffee farms are located and an estimate of 80,000 people live. 

An exceptional example of a sustainable and productive cultural landscape that is unique and representative of a tradition that is a strong symbol for coffee growing areas worldwide. It reflects a centennial tradition of coffee growing in small plots in the high forest and the way farmers have adapted cultivation to difficult mountain conditions. 

Headed by the Colombian Ministry of Culture and the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC), the project required the involvement of a number of academic institutions that also performed the required research and socialization processes to justify the inscription. The results of the investigations were described by UNESCO as a model worth following for future productive and cultural landscapes.

UNESCO’s goal is to catalogue, preserve and promote sites that have exceptional cultural and natural importance so they’re classified as part of the world’s heritage. The designations were made during UNESCO’s 35th session of the General Conference, held June 21 through 29 in Paris.

"We are proud of this achievement, the inscription of this site has great significance for Colombia, since it honors the families who, for decades, have made this area an example of productivity and perseverance," said Maria Angela Holguin, Colombia's foreign minister who also presides over the nations's commission to UNESCO. "Colombia should be proud because this speaks very well of the country to the outside world."

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos celebrated UNESCO’s decision. “June, from now on, will be Coffee Month in Colombia and what is good for the country’s coffee is good for everyone,” he tweeted.

María Claudia López Sorzano, the country’s vice minister of culture, added: “Colombia is greatly honored and full of joy from the inscription of the Coffee Cultural Landscape on UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites. It is our seventh site on the list but our first cultural landscape, which involves communities from four of the country’s departments that are home to about half a million people.”

A symbol of sustainability to coffee areas worldwide, this site has been able to adapt to natural and geographical features unique in the world. The institutions that coffee growers created throughout the years, which include Coffee Coops, Coffee Growers Committees elected by their peers under the Federation, and world class research entities such as Cenicafe have built a unique social capital around coffee, which UNESCO endorsed as an exceptional value to be reckoned with. These are some of the reasons why Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia (PCC) was recently proclaimed a UNESCO World Heritage Site.